(Best Eleven)
The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) has acquired four teams in the country.
The British BBC said on the 7th (Korean time), “PIF has acquired the top three teams in the first division this season, Al Ittihad, Al Nasr, Al Hilal, and the second division champion Al Ali.”
Saudi football investment continues. Al Nasr acquired Cristiano Ronaldo in December last year, followed by Al Ittihad for Karim Benzema. In addition, Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, and Hugo Lloris are receiving love calls from Saudi Arabia.메이저사이트
Benzema is said to be receiving an annual salary of 200 million euros (about 280 billion won) at Al Ittihad.
Al-Hilal is looking to sign Messi. If Messi decides to go to Saudi Arabia, it means that all 13 Ballon d’Or winners out of the last 14 will play in Saudi Arabia.
“Each club has been converted into a company. It will be owned by the PIF and each club’s non-profit foundation. PIF’s ownership in each club company will be 75 percent, with the non-profit foundation owning 25 percent,” the PIF said.
Previously, PIF took over Newcastle United from England in 2021 and shot a signal for a football uprising. Criticism follows that Saudi Arabia covers human rights violations in its own country with soccer, but government-led soccer investment continues in the same form as China in the past.
The English Premier League (EPL) secretariat approved the takeover after receiving “legally binding guarantees” that the Saudi government had no control over the club.